Garment having pleated appearance

ABSTRACT

Apparatus including wearing apparel which imparts the illusion of a fully pleated garment, such as a dress or skirt, in which only a small portion of the garment has the flexibility of pleats.

United States Patent 1 Dyche May 8, 1973 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [54] GARMENTHAVINGPLEATED 2,424,114 7 1947 Polakoff..................................

APPEARANCE [76] Inventor: Flora Dyche, 310 West End Avenue,

17 B, New York, N.Y, 10023 9/1960 Great Britain................ ...........2/2ll Dec. 15, 1971 Primary Examiner-H. Hampton Hunter AttorneyA. Yates Dowel], Jr.

[22] Filed:

[2]] Appl. No.: 208,221

[57] ABSTRACT Apparatus including wearing apparel which imparts the illusion of a fully pleated garment, such as a dress 2/219, 220, 69, 73, 74, 75, 123 or skirt, in which only a small portion of the garment has the flexibility of pleats.

References Cited UNITED sT'K'rs PATENTS 2 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures.

2,141,632 l2/l938 ....2/2ll GARMENT HAVING PLEATED APPE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention FIG. 6 is an enlarged section on the line 6-6 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged section on the line 7-7 of FIG.

This invention relates generally to wearing apparel of 5 8 is an enlarged fragmentary top P View of various kinds and relates particularly to pleated skirts which may be an independent unit or may be the lower portion of a dress or the like.

2. Description of the Prior Art I-Ieretofore wearing apparel of various kinds has been provided with pleats of the overlapping type, box type, and other types which have permitted freedom of movement of the garment material, as well as freedom of movement of the person wearing the garment. Some examples of this type of pleat are shown in the patent to Alexander US. Pat. No. 2,255,143 and in British Patent No. 848,308.

Some garments have been constructed of a multiplicity of gores which are stitched together along their adjoining seams to form either a straight-line or slim skirt or an A-line skirt. The upper portion of a straightline skirt normally is fitted to the hips and lower torso of the wearer, and the power portion of such skirt is generally cylindrical in configuration. The A-line skirt has an upper portion which normally is fitted to the hips of the wearer and has a flaring bottom portion. Some efforts have been made to combine the straightline skirt with the A-line skirt by providing a plurality of pleats at the bottom of the straight-line skirt, or in some instances such as the patent to Winter US. Pat. No. 2,141,632 have provided gores with enlarged portions at the bottom to give a flaring effect to a straight-line skirt. Many people prefer the appearance and flexibility of a pleated skirt or A-line skirt instead of the restrictiveness of a straight-line or slim skirt. However, a pleated skirt requires an excessive amount of material since each pleat constitutes an outer, intermediate and inner portion folded upon each other so that the skirt will be relatively straight when hanging loose, but which can flare outwardly to provide flexibility when desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is an article of wearing apparel such as a skirt, dress or the like, having the appearance of pleats extending from the waist down the entire length of the skirt. In order to provide the close fltting proPerties of a straight-line or slim skirt with the flexibility and flaring qualities of a fully pleated skirt, the garment of the present invention includes a relatively short skirt having a multiplicity of small vertically disposed stltched tucks extending substantially the full length of the skirt, and an auxiliary member having full pleats attached to the bottom of the skirt in such a manner that the pleats are in alignment with the tucks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective illustrating one application of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the material used for forming the skirt.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the material used for forming the auxiliary member.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary plan view of the skirt.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary plan view of the auxiliary member.

the assembled skirt and auxiliary member.

FIG. 9 is a section on the line 9-9 of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a bottom plan view of the structure of FIG. 8.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With continued reference to the drawing, FIG. 1 illustrates a garment such as a skirt 14 having a body 15 with a waistband 16 at its upper extremity and having a zipper or other closure means 17 to permit the skirt to conform to the waist of a person. The skirt may be constructed of any desired material, such as cloth, leather, vinyl, or other man-made or natural material which may be either woven or not woven.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1, 4 and 6, the material of the body portion of the skirt is formed with a plurality of small tucks 18 held in position by stitching 19 and extending substantially the entire length of the body 15 so that the body appears to have a multiplicity of vertical pleats.

At the lower edge of the body 15, an auxiliary member 20 is provided having a plurality of overlapping or box pleats 21 spaced apart a distance corresponding to the distance between the tucks 18. As illustrated in FIG. 7, each of the pleats includes an outer portion 22, an intermediate portion 23, and an inner portion 24 with the inner portion of one pleat extending outwardly to form the outer portion of the next adjacent pleat. If desired the fold between the outer portion 22 and the intermediate portion 23 of each pleat may be sewed together by stitching 25 in such a manner that the stitching 25 is generally in alignment with the stitching 19 of the body.

The auxiliary member 20 is connected to the body 15 in any desired manner, as by stitching 26 at the bottom of the body and stitching 27 at the top of the auxiliary member 20. As illustrated in FIG. 9, the upper stitching 27 extends entirely through the material of the body of the skirt and the thickness of the auxiliary member 20 to firmly attach such member to the body 15. The lower stitching 26 preferably connects the material of the body to the auxiliary member by a blind stitch which extends through the body material and outer portion 22 only of the auxiliary member. This permits relatively free movement of the pleats. This construction gives the illusion or appearance of a fully pleated skirt, while retaining the shapeliness and fit of a straight-line or slim skirt, as well as the flexibility at the lower portion of a pleated skirt.

In making the skirt 14 a pattern blank is cut to size from a bolt of material, after which a multiplicity of folds or small tucks are formed in a vertical direction and are sewed by stitching 19 to hold the tucks in position. ThereafteR any forming darts may be applied, the waist band 16 is connected to the upper end of the body 15, and the zipper 17 is set in. After the body has been formed, a predetermined length of material of a desired width is folded and provided with a number of pleats and such pleats are spaced apart a distance corresponding to the spacing of the tucks of the skirt body.

The auxiliary member is sewed or otherwise attached to the bottom of the skirt body in any desired manner, as by stitching 26 and 27. When the auxiliary member is attached, the pleats should be in alignment with the tucks of the skirt body so that the pleats form an extension of the tucks. The pleated skirt gives the appearance of a fully pleated skirt; however, the skirt has the form-fitting characteristic of a slim-line skirt at the upper portion and the flexibility of the pleated skirt at the bottom. Further, it requires substantially less material than a skirt which has full pleats the entire length of the garment, thereby effecting an economy.

I claim:

1. An article of wearing apparel, comprising a garment body, a multiplicity of generally vertical tucksformed in said body, the material of each of said tucks being sewed together for substAntially the full length of said garment body to provide a form-fitting skirt portion, an auxiliary member connected to said body adjacent to the bottom thereof, said auxiliary member having a multiplicity of pleats disposed in a generally vertical direction, said pleats being spaced apart a distance corresponding to the spacing of said tucks and being in alignment with said tucks when the auxiliary member is sewed to the garment, whereby a garment is provided having the appearance of a fully pleated garment.

2. The structure of claim 1 in which portions of the pleats of said auxiliary member have stitching corresponding to the vertical tuck stitching Of said garment body. 

1. An article of wearing apparel, comprising a garment body, a multiplicity of generally vertical tucks formed in said body, the material of each of said tucks being sewed together for substAntially the full length of said garment body to provide a form-fitting skirt portion, an auxiliary member connected to said body adjacent to the bottom thereof, said auxiliary member having a multiplicity of pleats disposed in a generally vertical direction, said pleats being spaced apart a distance corresponding to the spacing of said tucks and being in alignment with said tucks when the auxiliary member is sewed to the garment, whereby a garment is provided having the appearance of a fully pleated garment.
 2. The structure of claim 1 in which portions of the pleats of said auxiliary member have stitching corresponding to the vertical tuck stitching Of said garment body. 